Best and worst Princess tours you have done?

I know the tours are expensive, but which tours have you done that you thought provided excellent value? Which ship tour have you done that made you wish you had never got out of bed that morning?

Not region specific, just interested.

I know the tours are expensive, but which tours have you done that you thought provided excellent value? Which ship tour have you done that made you wish you had never got out of bed that morning?

 

Not region specific, just interested.

I think our best was last summer on our British Isles cruise on the Ocean Princess. We had to get to Heathrow airport and were docked in Dover. DW did not want to just take the transfer and spend a lot of time at the airport. We took their transfer with a tour of Canterbury. The guide was excellent. The tour was very small (IIRC only 14 of us including a couple and their daughters who we had met at our meet and greet.) And the Cathedral at Canterbury was one of the many highlights of our wonderful cruise.

They aren't that expensive if you consider the time and effort of planning and paying for private tours, plus Princess tours include admission fees (if any) and some include meals and of course, if something goes wrong Princess is responsible.

Our best tours have been in Spain (to Bayona), Dominica (gorge tour & snorkel tour to champagne reef) and Livorno (to Florence & Pisa) to name a few. All those tours had great, informative, entertaining tour guides. The best tour we did was actually in Fort Lauderdale, we did the tour to the Everglades and Flamingo Park on a turnaround day on a B2B. We just did it to waste time and ended up having the best time, the tour guide, Tom, was fantastic and we learned a lot about Florida. It was a total surprise.

We've been satisfied with most of the Princess tours we've done. The only real disappointments were in Lisbon and a boat tour we did at Princess Cay. Both of those were led by guides who were just not that interested in what they were doing.

The absolute worst tour we did was the "pirate ship" snorkel tour in Cabo San Lucas. They were far more interested in getting us drunk from the moment that we stepped onto the boat and the snorkelling was abysmal. The snorkel spot was a ten minute swim from where the ship dropped anchor and required us to swim across a stretch of water where other tour boats were running up to the beach, it was really unsafe.

My favorite was the Husky homestead tour in Denali before our cruise. It was a Princess land tour. Also a tour of Rome was great but exhausting. The worst is any tour that you sit on a bus with few stops and only see the sites out of a window. You just want to get off that bus and back to the ship asap.

The absolute worst tour we did was the "pirate ship" snorkel tour in Cabo San Lucas. They were far more interested in getting us drunk from the moment that we stepped onto the boat

Agree with your comments.

We took the Pirate Ship Tour and regretted it.

Had a Mother, with her two teen age DDs, get so drunk that they had to be carried back to the Ship.

Never again.

Best were the Helsinki speed boat tour on a Baltic cruise, the America's Cup boats in St. Maarten and the Taku Lodge trip in Alaska.

Worst--a bus/walking tour in Ajaccio that provided little other than some weak commentary.

They aren't that expensive if you consider the time and effort of planning and paying for private tours, plus Princess tours include admission fees (if any) and some include meals and of course, if something goes wrong Princess is responsible.

Totally agree with the above!

Over the years we've taken MANY shore excursions to various regions though Princess and have been very happy with almost all of them. :)

LuLu

Lots of great tours; a float trip in a raft down a gentle river in Haines Alaska (Port was Skagway) through an eagle preserve. The Train ride that morning on the Yukon White Pass Railroad (2006). The Edinburgh Tattoo (2013). The small prop plane ride to San Sebastian out of Puerto Vallarta (2006), and my all time favorite the on your own bicycle ride on the Island of Sark (2013).

Least favorite was probably my very first Princess tour; a walking tour through the historic tour in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. It wasn't really bad, just not memorable.

Also, not a tour, but the first time to Princess Cay when I got the worst sunburn ever of my life (My own fault). It was the first full day of a 10-day cruise. I spent the rest of the trip in pure misery.

The absolute worse Princess tour was in Nicaragua three years ago.

One of the suppose highlights was advertised as the biggest craft market in Central America. It was nothing of a market with junk, and very filthy bathrooms. Lunch was at a restaurant that was outside dining. Should have known things would be bad as we were handed wipes as we got off our bus. Food was a buffet and really not bad. However, when done we went to their large restroom. Lots of stalls

but as we exited stalls to use the sink, ladies were there with huge bowls of water and asked us to use that. Well, I would never put my hands in a bowl that everyone exiting a stall would use. Good thing I had wipes with me. Even so, my husband I got sick from the food and it lasted two days.Possibly the help used those bowls of water.

Have done Princess tours all over the world and only one time did we have a bad guide. We have found the tour guides have been top notch.The one time our guide was bad(in Italy) she spoke very little English. Princess refunded 50% of our tour price and that was fair.We still got to the pretty town just had no explanations at what we were seeing.

My worst tour was a catamaran snorkeling trip in PV. The water was cold and murky, the snokeling equipment was old, and the bathrooms on the catamaran didn't work.

The best tour was in Alaska. We took a 14-passenger float plane to a salmon hatchery. We got to see a least a dozen bears, including a mother and two cubs, catch and eat salmon out of a river. The highlight was when one of the 400 pound bears climbed out of the river and on to the hatchery tank. He dipped his big paw into the tank and helped himself to one of the salmon. He was probably 20 feet from us. It's a sight that's not easily forgotten. :D

We don't really have a worst tour -- some just less memorable than others.

We have taken a number of very good tours but the absolute best was a summit flight over Denali on a clear day! The small plane held maybe 6 passengers and we had to use oxygen masks because of the altitude (Denali's summit is over 20,000 feet). I was nervous the entire time but the experience was truly unforgettable.

Good post! We've had several memorable ones and standouts were some of the penguin tours in South America and an all day tour in Madeira that had stunning scenery, good food, and a fabulous guide. One of the surprises was one I wasn't looking forward to which was the Sting Ray tour in Grand Cayman with visits to the turtle farm and Hell. I almost cancelled but it turned out to be a lot of fun, plus the guide would actually take pictures of you with the sting rays with your own camera, they weren't just selling their own pictures.

The worst ones were in Tenerife and Cozumel. The tour in Tenerife was one that we were offered when our original selection was cancelled due to bad weather. The replacement tour took us up to the top of Telde, a national park with several volcanic rock formations. Well we didn't get to see much as it was raining so hard and that rain turned to snow. It was downright dangerous and we never should have gone. You know it's bad when the guide keeps saying "oh my God". There were boulders in the road and we got drenched at one point when we went to the visitor center. We were actually laughing about how it was one calamity after another but thankful that we had a good bus driver as it was treacherous. Oh, and roads were flooded at a couple of different points getting back to the ship delaying our return. The floods were so bad it made worldwide news.

The Cozumel excursion was just two months ago and it was a matter of a bad guide, a horrendous bus, and false advertising. The tour was supposed to take us on a "scenic cruise" but took us about 10 minutes from the pier to downtown Cozumel where we boarded an awful bus and the guide joked that we got the antique bus because that's what we got for being the last ship to arrive of 6! That bus took us right back past Puerto Maya and up to a Mayan ruin that most missed because the guide failed to point it out. The air conditioning was not reaching the back of the bus where there were 5 adults squished in the rear seat as every seat was filled - I was against the window back there and I wish the window would have opened but it was fused shut. The rest of the tour was pretty blah. Between the stifling heat, gross smells emanating from the seat, and poor tour guide, we could hardly wait to get back to the ship. We got a 50% refund for this one and I know Princess spoke to the tour company about it as this was far below their standards.

Fortunately we have had a lot more good experiences than bad, but even the bad ones leave us with stories to tell.

My favorite was the Husky homestead tour in Denali before our cruise. It was a Princess land tour. Also a tour of Rome was great but exhausting. The worst is any tour that you sit on a bus with few stops and only see the sites out of a window. You just want to get off that bus and back to the ship asap.

We're doing the Husky Homestead Tour in June. I'm a big Iditarod fan and Jeff King is my favorite musher - was he there when you did your tour?

Good post! We've had several memorable ones and standouts were some of the penguin tours in South America and an all day tour in Madeira that had stunning scenery, good food, and a fabulous guide. One of the surprises was one I wasn't looking forward to which was the Sting Ray tour in Grand Cayman with visits to the turtle farm and Hell. I almost cancelled but it turned out to be a lot of fun, plus the guide would actually take pictures of you with the sting rays with your own camera, they weren't just selling their own pictures.

 

The worst ones were in Tenerife and Cozumel. The tour in Tenerife was one that we were offered when our original selection was cancelled due to bad weather. The replacement tour took us up to the top of Telde, a national park with several volcanic rock formations. Well we didn't get to see much as it was raining so hard and that rain turned to snow. It was downright dangerous and we never should have gone. You know it's bad when the guide keeps saying "oh my God". There were boulders in the road and we got drenched at one point when we went to the visitor center. We were actually laughing about how it was one calamity after another but thankful that we had a good bus driver as it was treacherous. Oh, and roads were flooded at a couple of different points getting back to the ship delaying our return. The floods were so bad it made worldwide news.

 

The Cozumel excursion was just two months ago and it was a matter of a bad guide, a horrendous bus, and false advertising. The tour was supposed to take us on a "scenic cruise" but took us about 10 minutes from the pier to downtown Cozumel where we boarded an awful bus and the guide joked that we got the antique bus because that's what we got for being the last ship to arrive of 6! That bus took us right back past Puerto Maya and up to a Mayan ruin that most missed because the guide failed to point it out. The air conditioning was not reaching the back of the bus where there were 5 adults squished in the rear seat as every seat was filled - I was against the window back there and I wish the window would have opened but it was fused shut. The rest of the tour was pretty blah. Between the stifling heat, gross smells emanating from the seat, and poor tour guide, we could hardly wait to get back to the ship. We got a 50% refund for this one and I know Princess spoke to the tour company about it as this was far below their standards.

 

Fortunately we have had a lot more good experiences than bad, but even the bad ones leave us with stories to tell.

I think the worst tour I did was in Antigua. We were supposed to tour the Dockyards and Shirley Heights. Our guide was homophobic and let us know about it plus he told us our tour did not include Shirley Heights. We all argued with him and he reluctantly took us there but made us feel like we were doing something wrong. When we got back to the ship we went to the tour desk and told them about the guide. Normally I don't like to complain about things but this guy was blatant and I felt Princess should know.

Oh yes, Tenerife. Not a good day at all. We went up the mount too. Rainy cold day and no heat in the bus. I was freezing

At least the weather was better when we went on the flag hunt with you in Vigo! Hope you and Lance are doing well.

For us the best tours were: Circle Antigua, Sail-a-way to Nevis (St. Kitts), St. Lucia to the Pitons via boat. Really can't remember an awful tour (I can for NCL & snorkel Kauai, Hawaii). Some tours not worth the money & time involved (Canopy Tour Costa Rica - tour was good, transportation to and fro - LONG bus ride). Our best tours have been private or DIY.

Not awful but your standard big ship cattle car tour: Victoria and Buchart Gardens for the evening light show... bus after bus lined up, humans lined up like cattle. Same there, mass of people everywhere, and we were on a bus that had several people who had no clue to time. We were the last bus back, and I and my son the "last" on the gangplank. For 7 of us, we could have gotten a limo for less and traveled on our time.

Pretty much the MO I think for any of the non-private stuff that involves bus. I tend to avoid the ship cruise tours where I can.

My recent experience in Puerto Vallarta was pretty positive as it was an inclusive ship option only from local vendor. Since it was more action oriented no old slow shoppers on that one.

Think my best princess tour was Pompeii. A superb guide and so emotive walking around the ruins. Since being there have read Robert Harris book Pompeii amazing and would recommend to anyone visiting. We now want to return and do heraculem ,sorry spelt wrong, to see the rest of the story

The small-boat Tracy Arm tour has been the most impressive of all...if we weren't also interested in whale watching, I'd gladly give up a day in Juneau to go do this one again (so we'll just do another Tracy Arm voyage and add on the small boat).

JNU-700 (photo-oriented whale watch and glacier view hike) has been so good that we did it twice, and would most certainly do it again.

We did some other whale watch (combined with a salmon bake) in Juneau in 2012, and discovered how frustrating it can be watching whales on a boat with not enough viewing area for the passengers it has.

We did a Haines Wilderness River Adventure, and spent 1h15m getting to this 1h15m excursion, then rushed through a lunch, and spent another 1h15m getting back. I really want that day back...

The best was the dogsleds when we were in Juneau. I don't remember the specific name of the tour, but the trip out to the dogs and tour of the facility (puppies!) and a sled ride were perfect.

The worst was Pompeii. We had a crazed tour guide who was obsessed with "beating" her fellow tour guides to the individual stops. She took us in through the back entrance and then herded us along at a ridiculously fast pace so she could get to some villa before the competition. She was loud and shrill, and she lost at least three people on the way who had to find their own way out.

Best Excursion has been the B.O.S.S. out of St Thomas. Great snorkling and underwater scooter ride ever. Next would be the private tour we took in Cartegena that went to many places with good information by the tour guide. Haven't really had a bad one.

Most of the time we just tour on our own (after I do the research). But before our last cruise, I had our teen look over the Princess excursions and she selected one (the Nautilus sub off of Waikiki, which was okay), and I selected the Movies and Waterfalls one in Kauai. All three of us loved it! My hubby is a big waterfalls fan (he wants to one day see Iguazu Falls in South America) so he got to see some beautiful ones. My daughter and I are major movie fans so we loved the format of the tour (the guide would show a clip or more of our next destination).

We also had lunch at the diner featured in the movie "The Descendants." And one of the sites was the dilapidated Coco Palms hotel, which was never rebuilt after Hurricane Inikiki. A local icon, Larry Rivera serenaded us while the guide (who had taken lessons from Larry's daughter) danced the hula to his songs. Sadly, a fire gutted the ruins further just months ago.

Husky Homestead with Jeff King is fabulous!

Had a great small group tour to Giverny and Rouen with lunch at an old inn out in the country by the Seine -- beautiful and romantic.

Our first guide in St Petersburg back in the '90s was a university professor and know so much about both the history and current events, she was very enlightening.

We did not enjoy our recent Butchart Garden bus tour - we were there way too long. There are so many good private excursions on the Alaska cruise that I would probably not book through the ship.

We tend to do a mix of Princess tours and private tours, and really can't think of any disasters - planning is part of the fun!

I can't say that I've taken a bad Princess tour. Being able to read reviews online has been a big help in choosing well.

My worst shorex ever was not on Princess, but on another line. I mention it in case Princess offers it as well.

It was a bus tour of Kauai. The guide was friendly enough, but the tour consisted of her describing points of interest as we drove past them without stopping, then making an extended stop at an isolated tourist trap. It was a guava farm with nothing much to see or do except spend time and money in their gift shop :rolleyes:.

The small boat to Tracy Arm was fabulous. We got right up next to the spray of Icy Falls. Also got very close to the glacier. We had a very good naturalist on board. We would definitely do that one again.

We had a great whale watching excursion in Juneau but the salmon bake afterwards was meh. Would ditch that part if I ever go whale watching in Juneau again.

The worst was on a Holland America excursion on Roatan to a snorkeling trip on the beach where Fantasy Island was filmed. The minute we stepped on the beach the skies opened up and we were in the middle of a squall. The road back was unpaved (and slippery clay) and dive master was afraid it would totally wash out so we had to board back on the buses and go back to port. We slipped and slid over the crest of the mountain with jungle canyons on both sides. About scared the bejezzers out of us! I understand the road is totally paved now. I NEVER want to go back to Roatan!